Between the years of 1988 and 1991, French photographer Daniel Laine spent about 12 months on the African continent tracking down and photographing figures of royalty, and leaders of kingdoms. During this time he managed to photograph 70 monarchs and descendants of the great African dynasties with his work on this series.

Hi Rod, Fantastic pictures. Fascinating to see how other kings have dressed in different countries in Africa. May be to throw people off, it might be funny to add Prince Charles in the pictures.
All the best.

What a stunning and creative theme. With some background information this would make a great book.

From: voice of reason

Sep 13, 2009

Wow…..do people really still question why Africa is so fucked up? Can they do anything? Why build a time machine when you can go back 8000 years to that crap-hole and see how we lived like monkeys, and do it today. Good Luck Africa…..you are going to need it!

From: GERALDO A. LOBATO FRANCO

Sep 24, 2009

THIS IS A MARVELOUS PHOTO ESSAY. HOWEVER, I DO NOT SEE ADJACENT A SIMILAR TO THE BRAZILIAN KINGS AND QUEENS (!) I FIND THIS TO BE A MUST AND INDISPENSABLE GUIDE TO BRAZILIAN GRAPHIC ETHNO-POLITICS. IF YOU WISH, PLZ, DO GET IN TOUCH FOR SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW TO GO ABOUT DOING IT.

From: Cyclonus

Sep 25, 2009

Great pics but it would of been nice if you added James Ealr Jones from Coming to America.

From: Terry Stone

Oct 01, 2009

I would love to know more about the process you used. Did the “kings” select the poses and the items to be photographed? How willing were they? (Were all of them still alive – some look dead!) Did you have any restrictions on what could be used as props, ie I notice an absence of guns.

Tell us more, please.

Terry

From: spaceface

Oct 01, 2009

I second Terry Stone’s request. I’d love to know more about “behind the photographs”.

i thought that the kings used to put a crown on the head. i mean a golden crown. but what im seen is not that , so were goes all gold of africa , and the kings shouldnt dress with fine cloths . hell what is that?

These are great pictures. but as my friend said we need to recognize the existence of queens in our locality.

From: Cmamma

Apr 27, 2011

I have a friend (seriously) on Face Book who just commented today about being frustrated with all the media coverage of the”Royal Wedding”. He expressed that there would never be this much coverage of an African wedding and goes on to it being a racist thing. What are our thoughts on this and why won’t they cover an African wedding as such? Just curious to hear some other thoughts on the subject.

From: giuseppe

Jan 22, 2012

photographies sont belles et montrent toute leur majesté

From: JOHN MENS

Feb 18, 2013

I am triiled about your Photography it really shows the great Culture of African people